With the astounding success of Radiohead's bold gambit earlier this month to market and sell their new album online (at least initially), Billboard is now reporting that the band will embark on a large-scale tour next year. Although this is a typical move in the music industry, and certainly "normal" band news, it has me wondering whether a large-scale tour by Radiohead will be or can be as industry changing as the release of In Rainbows.

Undoubtedly, a new worldwide tour by Radiohead will look very similar to past tours the band has taken around the globe, in particular their 2001 and 2003 global expeditions. Billboard reports that when the band toured last year it was "almost for creative reasons, definitely not for financial reasons." The tour was limited to few European and North American venues. With In Rainbows, the band has followed that trend into the selling of their album, allowing fans to set the price, which apparently averaged around £4 ($8).

A worldwide tour in the scope of past Radiohead tours and other contemporary efforts by other artists is certainly not one for "creative reasons," since the amount of travel would be overwhelming. Financially, such an endeavor would be expensive, but not simply in economic terms. Thom Yorke, the band's front man has been gone on record in the past "over the effects of touring on climate change." For a band as socially conscious as Radiohead have been with their music, such a concern is not surprising, but the report does not indicate the band looks to miss out on engaging the music with fans.

In any case, the answer to my question is that there is no answer, at least not yet. It is unfortunate that preliminary plans are not any more decisive, but albums and tours are the pillars around which the music industry is built. If one can be shaken up so fundamentally, then why can't the other one? The real question is how can a tour be shaken up?